W.Va. double-murder trial rescheduled for July 10

January 23, 2012|By RICHARD F. BELISLE | richardb@herald-mail.com

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MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — A judge in Berkeley County on Monday rescheduled the double-murder trial of Antonio Prophet to July 10 at the request of Prophet’s lawyer, who said he needed more time to prepare his client’s defense.

Prophet is being held in Eastern Regional Jail in Martinsburg without bond. His trial was scheduled to begin Feb. 10.

The request was granted by 23rd Circuit Judge Christopher Wilkes over the objections of Berkeley County Prosecutor Pamela Games-Neeley.

Prophet, 35, of Lorton, Va., is accused in the June 2010 deaths of Angela Devonshire, 22, and her son, Andre White, 3, of 69 Sidney’s Way, court records said.

According to court records, he is charged with cutting the woman’s throat before he set her second-floor garage apartment on fire. Her son was home with her at the time, court records show.

The victims fell to the floor of the garage as the building was burning, according to court records.

Defense Attorney B. Craig Manford asked Wilkes for more time to line up two expert witnesses. One would testify on the type of defensive wounds Prophet allegedly sustained in his attack on the victim and the other on the amount of blood that spattered on his clothes, he said.